In Austria, an average of one person will be re-diagnosed with HIV every day by 2021. In total there were 376 people. That is 44 more than in 2020 (332). The six-year average shows a downward trend. However, during the years of the corona pandemic, there was a dramatic reduction in HIV testing and counseling facilities internationally. Fewer investigations were performed and, as a result, fewer initial diagnoses were made. Whether the decline is due to this or to a lower infection rate can only be interpreted retroactively over the course of the coming years.
In the first Corona year 2020, the number of newly reported HIV diagnoses, both nationally and internationally, fell sharply compared to previous years. This is probably not only due to budget cuts due to the pandemic, but is also partly related to corona regulations and lockdowns. In 2021, many countries – including Austria – recorded another increase.
The fight against HIV and AIDS has come to a standstill
Given the developments and effects of the pandemic in recent years, the fight against HIV and AIDS has come to a standstill. The declared goals of the United Nations were far off. The global goal was to let 95 percent of infected people know their HIV status by 2030. According to UNAIDS, 95 percent of them should receive therapy. If treatment programs were maintained at 2019 levels, an additional 7.7 million people could die from infection by 2030. It is estimated that millions of lives are at risk. Figures for 2022 are not yet available.
9000 HIV infected in Austria
The Austrian AIDS Association estimates that there are currently about 9,000 HIV-infected people in Austria – that is about 0.1 percent of the nine million inhabitants. According to the Center for Virology at the Medical University of Vienna, 38.4 million people worldwide (ie 0.5 percent of the world’s population) are living with an HIV infection.
About ten percent of all those affected may not (yet) know anything about their infection because they have not yet been tested and therefore not yet treated. The reasons for this are a lack of risk awareness and also the fear of a diagnosis – also due to possible social discrimination, fear or shame. According to the Ministry of Social Affairs, the diagnosis is often made months or years after an infection. The following applies: the sooner a diagnosis is made, the more successful the HIV therapy can be.
Diagnosis often only when the immune system fails
Nearly 42.5 percent of those affected only discover their disease in an advanced stage, AIDS aid said. Late diagnosis mainly occurs in people over the age of 50 and in people who do not come from Austria. By 2021, about one in five people will be over the age of 50 at the time of diagnosis. As early as 2020, every second HIV diagnosis in Europe will be made at a stage where the immune system is already failing, according to the EU health authority ECDC and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Austria: Burgenland is at the rear in terms of new infections
In 2021, 376 people were faced with an HIV diagnosis. There were an average of 1.03 new diagnoses per day (2020: 0.9). Most were found in Vienna (189), Upper Austria (46), Styria (38) and Tyrol (25). Burgenland forms the rearguard with two things. In 16 cases, an infection was detected extremely early – even before specific antibodies were detected.
A total of 33,202 tests were carried out in the Austrian AIDS organizations – 14,400 in Vienna alone. Most are HIV tests (11,435), syphilis tests (8,588) and chlamydia tests (6,342). HIV antibody tests are anonymous and free, for all other tests a fee (up to 75 euros) must be paid. In 2022, a new HIV variant (VB subtype) will be identified in the Netherlands. But ordinary HIV medicines also offer reliable help in this case.
In the Europe region, which includes 53 countries, the number of HIV diagnoses fell by 24 percent compared to 2019, according to the WHO. In general, however, “an upward trend can be observed over the past ten years”, ECDC points out with extensive statistics from 2011.
Source: Krone
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